Wurtzel: Within Acceptable Limits

I'm actually pretty impressed by the results -- we had less than a minute to analyze the database, compare with current trajectories, and establish a connection, and it WORKED -- it did more than that if you think about it. I mean, we've only scanned a tiny fraction of the sky. When you work down how much of that resulted in stars with planets, how few of those planets had a size and composition capable of supporting life, looking at chemistry, pressure, temperature... We've categorized less than sixteen world with organic chemistry (non-carbon life might still be out there, but it seems to run the show in our discoveries).

I think we all knew we were going to end up stranded, at least for a while. Even if Flink's memory bank hadn't been wrecked, we just weren't going to have the infrastructure to manufacture all we would need to even set up a beacon. Not on our own. We couldn't risk leaving the computers intact where the Epicons could follow us, so there was almost no chance the other stations would be able to find us either. But we figured as long as we could find necessary resources, maybe in a generation or two, we could send a message.

None of us were expecting that first view when the portal opened. There was no debate we were looking at some sort of architecture filled with machines. This wasn't just a world with air and water -- it had LIFE. And not just life, but INTELLIGENT life... a tool-building culture. This was as promising as it was terrifying. There was no time to debate whether going to an inhabited world was going to be the right decision, we just jumped and hoped for the best.

And I've got to say -- it turned out for the best. Sure, it's a little chilly, but the atmosphere is breathable. They need to pipe in water from an external source, but it's clean. We're still looking into the food situation, but most importantly, we've managed to connect with one of the natives. It's hard to tell how helpful this being will be, but at the moment, it seems to be welcoming and non-threatening. If we can get settled and take care of the basics for survival, then we can get back to our primary objective.

But honestly, we're on an alien world! What researcher wouldn't give their right arm for a chance like this! Even if it ends badly, I can only hope the knowledge we gather can be useful for the folks back home someday!